The use of removable storage media in computing systems has become widespread. For example, universal serial bus (USB) flash drives have become commonplace as a result of their small size, large storage capacity, and rapid data transfer speeds. However, traditional techniques utilized for ensuring the security of such removable storage media have generally exhibited various limitations.
For example, malware that is contained within an infected computing system and that is not recognized by existing security software present on the infected computing system may detect the presence of removable storage media coupled to the infected computing, and may transfer one or more files infected with malware to the removable storage media without alerting the security software or a user. As a result, when the removable storage media is removed and later connected to a clean computing system, one or more of the infected files may be automatically run and/or transferred to the clean computing system from the removable storage media, thereby infecting the clean computing system and propagating the malware.
Conventional security techniques have traditionally attempted to prevent propagation of malware via removable storage media by disabling functionality of the removable storage media, disabling access to the removable storage media, and/or allowing access to the removable storage media only to select users. Such techniques, however, have greatly limited the functionality and use of removable storage media.
There is thus a need for addressing these and/or other issues associated with the prior art.